Posted on Jun 9, 2022
The Writers' Room: Celebrating LGBTQ+ literature
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The late writer bell hooks defined queer as “not about who you’re having sex with … but as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it.”
As LGBTQ+ rights have expanded, so too has the canon of queer literature. According to industry tracker NPD Bookscan, LGBTQ+ fiction book sales sold almost 5 million copies last year, doubling sales between 2020 and 2021.
But, access to these stories is in jeopardy. More than 30 states have introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year. Some that of that legislation includes the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that passed in Florida this March. That law bans the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, including books that touch on those topics. More than a dozen states have introduced similar bills.
Author Kristen Arnett knows the personal toll these kinds of bans take as a gay teenager who grew up in Florida.
As LGBTQ+ rights have expanded, so too has the canon of queer literature. According to industry tracker NPD Bookscan, LGBTQ+ fiction book sales sold almost 5 million copies last year, doubling sales between 2020 and 2021.
But, access to these stories is in jeopardy. More than 30 states have introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year. Some that of that legislation includes the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that passed in Florida this March. That law bans the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, including books that touch on those topics. More than a dozen states have introduced similar bills.
Author Kristen Arnett knows the personal toll these kinds of bans take as a gay teenager who grew up in Florida.
The Writers' Room: Celebrating LGBTQ+ literature
Posted from the1a.org
Reading
Poetry
Children
LGBTQ+
Transgender
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Sheila Rae of Austin, Texas, told us why queer stories have been so important for her.
I’m a 75-year-old bisexual woman. When I was 16 years old growing up in Hobbs, New Mexico, I fell in love with the poetry of Edna Vincent Millay. A few years later, when I was in college, I learned the term bisexual and that Millay had many lovers. Some were men and some were women. I still have the now-fragile copy of her sonnets as a reminder to me of how her poetry was a portal to my understanding that I am and always have been attracted to both men and women. One reason I am out is to tell my story of eventually thriving despite having been ostracized for a long time until I had nothing left to lose. Free at last to be who I am."...
..."Sheila Rae of Austin, Texas, told us why queer stories have been so important for her.
I’m a 75-year-old bisexual woman. When I was 16 years old growing up in Hobbs, New Mexico, I fell in love with the poetry of Edna Vincent Millay. A few years later, when I was in college, I learned the term bisexual and that Millay had many lovers. Some were men and some were women. I still have the now-fragile copy of her sonnets as a reminder to me of how her poetry was a portal to my understanding that I am and always have been attracted to both men and women. One reason I am out is to tell my story of eventually thriving despite having been ostracized for a long time until I had nothing left to lose. Free at last to be who I am."...
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